INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1900, 7 November 1918, Page 3

INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC.

AIORE DEATHS IN AUCKLAND. Auckland, Nov. 5. There have been at least sixteen more deaths from influenza. Sixtylive hospital nurses arc down with the complaint, filing two wards, and forty soldiers in an annexe are affoclcd. There were (115 applications to-day for medical assistance, ami thirty .serious cases were admitted to the hospital. The extremely serious nature of the influenza epidemic jias been impressed upon the Minister of Public Health so forcibly that instead of returning to Wellington to-night, be deeided to remain here until all arrangements for fighting the disease are in hand. Two police sergeants and thirtyfive constables have been stricken down. Auckland, Yesterday. There are 200 cases of influenza in I lie hospital, only the more serious cases being admitted. Eighty nurses are down, also four doctors. Thirty volunteer and live expert) nurses are assisting, but more help is neededThe Board of Education has passed a resolution realising with grave concern the seriousness of tho epidemic and recommending that tho secondary schools as well as the primary, schools, the theatres, picture shows, churches, and other public meeting places, should he closed. GISBORNE HOSPITAL CROWDED. Gisborne, Nov. 5. The number of inlluenza cases is increasing daily. The hospital is crowded, (here being sixty-one eases in the institution to-day. Sixteen nurses out of a staff' of thirty-four are down with inlluenza. As a result of an appeal of (he hospiital authorities, several ladies volunteered their assistance in I lie nursing in the institution. The Borough Council has decided lo disinfect Hie Ira incurs three limes a day, and Ims asked the school committees to consider (he advisability of closing tho schools, ft also urges parents lo prohibit their children front going to picture shows. Since Sunday there have been I wo deaths in the hospital from double pneumonia supervening on influenza. AT PALMERSTON. The position at Awapuni Camp is still serious. Twenty more patients were admitted to the camp hospital yesterday, making a total of 120 under treatment in camp, while one more serious case was admitted to the Palmerston Hospital. All training has been suspended in the meantime, while the camp still remains in quarantine, and no leave will be given lill the epidemic subsides. All Hu; patients in camp are receiving the best of care, and arc progressing favourably.

The local staff of the ‘Railway Department has been depleted by 27 hands, all grades being included in the victims. Among the staffs of the wholesale and retail houses a large number are' down with the “flu,” many business places being short staffed to the extent of 10 per cent. At the College Street school Mr I). W. Low (headmaster), and four other teachers are down, and a large number of the pupils are also sick with the prevailing epidemic. At the local post and telegraph office about thirty members of the staff are laid aside. PRECAUTIONS A CAIN ST ATTACK, First. —Gargle the throat night and morning with any weak disinfectant solution, such as potassium permanganate, strength, 1 in 1,000. Be in the open air as much as possible, and avoid overcrowded and healed atmosphere. Attention to general personal hygiene, so that if attacked by the disease the patient has greater powers of resistance. The initial symploms, such as langour, lassitude, feverishness, pain in the back and limbs, are common knowledge, and constitute a warning that the person attacked at once lie up. Neglect in the early stages, such as remaining at work, often leads to •serious Complications. In all cases where there is any temperature medical attention should be sought. Great prostration during the attack and during convalescence is characteristic of the disease, and a too early return to work is unwise and may cause a relapse. Sometimes the onset of (he disease is startling in its rapidity, so that the preliminary symptoms mentioned above are absent. INSTRUCTIONS TO THE AFFECTED HOUSEHOLD. In an additional statement the Health Department gives the following instructions to the affected household: — a. The patient: As soon as the disease manifests itself —the initial symptoms of influenza are fever, headache, pain in the limbs, a nd prostration —the patient must go to bed, and ’place himself under the care of a doctor. He must be rigorously isolated from the rest of the household at the earliest pos T sible moment, only the person in attendance being allowed to enter the sick room. All eating and drinking utensils used by him must be kept separate from those of the other members of the household, and disinfected by boiling after each occa-

sion of use. The secretions from nose and throat, both highly infectious, must be caught on pieces of old rag, which are then to be burned. When coughing, he should take the precauticfn of covering the mouth and nose with a handkerchief or piece of old rag —the former being disinfected by soaking for an hour in 1 per cent, izal or Jcyes’ fluid before removing to the laundry, the latter by burning. The patient must remain in bed until advised by the medical attendant that he may get up, and must remain in isolation until the cough and other symptoms of catarrah have entirely disappeared. 1). The attendant is the only person in the household who is permitted to enter the sick room. -She should wash her hands carefully with soap and water, to which disinfectant, such as izal, Jeyes’ fluid, has been added, on every occasion she leaves iho sick room and before each meal. When handling the patient she should take care that he does not cough or breathe directly into her face. She should gargle frequently, and douche the nose with mild antiseptics. , V hen taking exercise she should not enter other houses or come in close contact with other people. c. The other members of Hi* household: These must not enter the sick room on any account. They should avoid public gatherings. The nose and throat should be kept in as healthy a condition as possible, and for this purpose gargles should be used night and morning, and a nasal douche once it day. Suitable solutions for this purpose may be made by the addition of one teaspoonful of a mixture of equal parts borax, baking soda, and sail to a pint ol warm water, or by the addition of Condy’s lluid to water in sufficient quantity to give a faint pink colour. Wherever possible, contacts should avail themselves of the inhalation treatment with sulphate of zinc at the special chambers to be provided. A regular life, plenty of Open air, exercise, and proper number of hours in bed, and regular meals of good simple food are among the best prevent a lives. TH K H FAX PORCEMENTS. 44th A XI) doth lIF LI) BACK. PRECAUTIONS AGAINST INFLUENZA.

Sir James Allen staled at Wellington yesterday that the. next two Reinforcements, the 44th and 45th, which are due to leave New Zealand, will be held back on account of the influenza epidemic. The next two transports therefore will fill up with cargo, but will carry no men. “I do not want the public to think that this is because the war has come to an end,” Sir James remarked. “It is because of influenza.” Whether the men of these two drafts would be given leave from camp tho Alinister was not prepared to say at Hie moment.

“We have got the epidemic in ail (lie camps, more or less,” (he Minister continued. There are a good number at Keatherston, but only three or four serious eases, and today they are reported rather better, and I hope we shall not have any casualties. I am sorry to say that at Narrow Neck another soldier was lost last night, but they say they have got the thing in hand. At Trentham it Is not badland al Awapuni they think they have got control of it. It is down al Maimer, and an extra medical officer has been sent up. Thirteen military medical officers have gone to Auckland, and more are going, but: wo cannot go on sending them indefinitely. We must look after our own men.'’